Steve Jobs Calls 7-Inch Tablets 'Dead on Arrival', Says 10-Inches Minimum

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by scveteran

I have to disagree with you. The 7 inch screen allows me to read something. I can't do that on my phone. Any of us with low vision just can't do that.

There little question that a 7 inch iPad would be a very nice portable ebook reader. I imagine that Apple could make one about the size of a Sony 505 or 600.

But the problem is that a 7 inch iPad would not be a very good iPad. Or at least, that's the way Steve Jobs sees it, & I tend to agree when I think of the way I use my iPhone & iPad.

If you are carrying an iPhone around, AND you are not a person who reads ebooks, why would you carry a 7 inch iPad as well?

The problem those of us on this forum have is that we are biased toward the reading function of electronic devices, and that function would be well served at the 7 inch mark. But for the far larger group of people who do not use electronic devices for reading, a 7 inch iPad is a poor phone, and does not seem to me to be worth the price for what it delivers when compared to larger tablets, or dedicated gaming devices.

But I must confess that I reely reely hope that those cynics who think that this is just some form of misdirection by Jobs, who will spring forth at some point with a 7 inch iPad done right, are correct. 'Cause I'd buy me one.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Harmon

But I must confess that I reely reely hope that those cynics who think that this is just some form of misdirection by Jobs, who will spring forth at some point with a 7 inch iPad done right, are correct. 'Cause I'd buy me one.

Samsug will have one out in a couple of weeks ... oh wait! That's not an iPad, that's something USEFUL!

[BWhite]

Originally Posted by Harmon

But I must confess that I reely reely hope that those cynics who think that this is just some form of misdirection by Jobs, who will spring forth at some point with a 7 inch iPad done right, are correct. 'Cause I'd buy me one.

I do not believe it was misdirection, I think the man wants to sell a portable computer, and he probably thinks that an iPad without a QWERTY keyboard is DOA. I think that is where he is coming from.

My father owns an iPad and in landscape orientation the iPad's QWERTY keyboard works; which is to say it is usable if not comfortable. I own an old Windows CE 7" QWERTY keyboard device and the keyboard is neither comfortable nor usable.

I tend to agree with the assessment that almost any screen size can be used to read eBooks, if one's eyesight is decent.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by BWhite

...I tend to agree with the assessment that almost any screen size can be used to read eBooks, if one's eyesight is decent.

So we blind, old bats are out of luck?

[eGeezer]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Is that why the 3.5" touch screens on the iPhone and iPod touch don't work?

I come really really late to this thread, and literally did laugh out loud when the next post asked my first question. Really -- he guy that sells more 3.5" touch screens than anyone else is saying 7" screens are too small?

[gtriever]

It's so he can claim "an amazing breakthrough in technology" when he releases a 7" pad. Jobs will then rename the two 'Pads... MINiPad and MAXiPad.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

So we blind, old bats are out of luck?

Sorry there there is only a finite amount of luck.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

So we blind, old bats are out of luck?

Originally Posted by kennyc

Sorry there there is only a finite amount of luck.

That explains a lot.

[Seanette]

Originally Posted by gtriever

It's so he can claim "an amazing breakthrough in technology" when he releases a 7" pad. Jobs will then rename the two 'Pads... MINiPad and MAXiPad.

[eGeezer]

Originally Posted by gtriever

It's so he can claim "an amazing breakthrough in technology" when he releases a 7" pad. Jobs will then rename the two 'Pads... MINiPad and MAXiPad.

I'll give it a couple , too. It deserves it.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by eGeezer

I come really really late to this thread, and literally did laugh out loud when the next post asked my first question. Really -- he guy that sells more 3.5" touch screens than anyone else is saying 7" screens are too small?

I read the interview & when he said that, it made me raise my eyebrows for exactly that reason. A day or two later, I downloaded Trainyard on both my ipad & my iphone. This is where I put the observation that it works real nice on the ipad but is hard to do on the iphone. Except that is not true. Works fine on both. Damned if I know what he meant when he said that...

Fun game, too.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by Harmon

I read the interview & when he said that, it made me raise my eyebrows for exactly that reason. A day or two later, I downloaded Trainyard on both my ipad & my iphone. This is where I put the observation that it works real nice on the ipad but is hard to do on the iphone. Except that is not true. Works fine on both. Damned if I know what he meant when he said that...

Fun game, too.

He is going to come out with a different kind of touch on a 7inch Ipad.
If you listen to his statements they usually are about how something doesn't work then he comes out something that works. So if he is complaining how the touch interface is not that good on 7inch tablet he is going to come out with something else.
Personally I don't buy apple products as I don't agree with their philosophy or their prices but am thankful to them for the rapid innovation they bring to tech industry.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

He is going to come out with a different kind of touch on a 7inch Ipad.
If you listen to his statements they usually are about how something doesn't work then he comes out something that works. So if he is complaining how the touch interface is not that good on 7inch tablet he is going to come out with something else.

I think you are right - I phrase it a little differently, though. I say that what Jobs does is look for the right use of a particular product, something that will involve a convergence of existing technologies in a way that defines a new product niche. So I think he's saying that neither the iphone/ipod niche, nor the ipad niche, is right for a 7 inch device, and that no one else has come up with a good idea for the 7 inch niche. So until Apple figures out what the right niche is, Jobs will pooh-pooh the 7 inch tablet.

But your interpretation of the meaning of his "touch" pronouncement is the first one I've seen that makes what he says make some kind of sense. Though what a different "touch experience" might be is certainly unclear to me. I suppose I'll see it when Apple does it.

[Avarwen]

Really now 10" is not that portable if I can't fit it into my purse then it's a no go. A 7" tablet will work if it can do a better job than the ipad we'll just have to wait.

[darknessangel]

Originally Posted by Harmon

I read the interview & when he said that, it made me raise my eyebrows for exactly that reason. A day or two later, I downloaded Trainyard on both my ipad & my iphone. This is where I put the observation that it works real nice on the ipad but is hard to do on the iphone. Except that is not true. Works fine on both. Damned if I know what he meant when he said that...

Fun game, too.

iPhone = smartphone market, iPad = tablett market. And I too think that 7" is too small for a tablett and still remains as something you can't put in your pocket (No, I do not wear or intend to wear cargo pants and do not wish to put it in my back pocket for obvious reasons) so... why shaving those extra 2"?